It Was Enchanting To Meet You
by Crystabel.Shalott
Summary: "It had been years that Gwen kept on telling her about Tom Branson. Sybil was sure that he would have been an interesting person to meet, but Gwen's eagerness in making them meet was a little over the top, and at some point Sybil had started to believe that Gwen just wanted to play the match maker" Modern day AU.


_A/N: I've written this for **Andorra97** after she posted two pictures (one of Allen Leech and one of Jessica Brown-Findlay) on her tumblr, asking if someone could have written a story out of it. _

_The title is taken from the song Enchanted by Taylor Swift._

_I hope the plot of the first chapter isn't too rushed, and that it makes sense.  
_

_As usual I'm sorry for eventual mistakes and I hope you'll like it (let me know). _

_Enjoy!_

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**Chapter One.**

"…falling in love could be achieved in a single word—a glance."  
― **Ian McEwan**, _Atonement_

Sybil was helping Gwen checking out that everything was at its right place before the first guests would have arrived. Looking at her friend, Sybil realized that it all seemed so unreal: preparing a graduation party. Five years had passed, Gwen had completed her art studies and Sybil herself would have finished her medical studies the following year. And yet it seemed like yesterday when the two of them started looking for a flat that they could have rented together for the years to come. It seemed like yesterday when Gwen run to Downton, holding her admission letter for the Academy of Arts only to find out that Sybil had passed the test for the medical classes. But even before the start of their university years, all the memories Sybil had regarding her friendship with Gwen, all the adventures they had lived together, were still clear in her mind despite the gap of years since when it happened to the current moment.

They had been friends for what seemed like forever: she and Gwen had met on the first day of school when by chance they ended up sitting together and from that moment their friendship was forged. But it wasn't mere friendship, Sybil had always considered Gwen like a fourth sister, someone of her age and on her same wave length. Of course she loved Mary and Edith but most of the time they spent together was a constant attempt to bring peace between them rather than enjoying herself, and the age gap could not be ignored. Both her real sister were out of the nursery long before Sybil and as grown up as they were, they didn't really want to spend their free time with their little sister, especially when they had friends coming over to Downton for the afternoon. But Sybil didn't hold a grudge against her older sister (and she was convinced that she might have acted the same if she would have been in their shoes), and made her own friends. But of all the people she had been acquainted in her life, Gwen was one of the few that she managed to keep in touch with and not lose contacts after a while.

They had shared dreams, hopes and secret and now, as Gwen had finally finished her academic studies and Sybil would have followed in a year after having taken her specialization, here they were ready to take a new path that would have led to the future. A future that was exactly what they both had planned. It was quite a relief and a blessing, and Sybil was aware that she and Gwen had been lucky indeed to be doing what they had always wanted to do. Some of their friends couldn't say the same and it always came as a displeasure for Sybil because even if the passion was there, because of some silly reason someone's future - a future that no doubt would have been embraced happily and with success - was denied.

"Can you actually believe it? That you've finished your studies?" Sybil asked Gwen "Because I don't"

"Neither do I. Sometimes I wake up in the morning with the fear that I'm late with some paperwork or some paintings" she paused a moment and looked at her friend "I'm sure you will like him"

"And by him you mean..."

"Tom. I'm glad that you finally meet. It's a great thing considering you two are my oldest friends" she explained while finishing to adjust the food on the table.

Ever since they had met, Gwen had been convinced that Tom Branson and Sybil Crawley had to meet one day. She was absolutely sure that they would have gone along more well, and there were so many things that they could have discussed: from politics, to economics. But above everything else she wanted to prove Tom wrong. He had a restricted view of the aristocracy and he was a little prejudiced towards the higher classes of society, but Sybil represented the opposite of what he believed, and she was an Earl's daughter.

Sybil rolled her eyes.

"Gwen, if you mention Tom Branson another time I will start to think that your only goal is to play the match maker. In which case, I will leave now and come back when your party is over"

It had been years that Gwen kept on telling her about Tom Branson, and lately she talked about him even more. She was sure that he would have been an interesting person to meet, but what annoyed her was Gwen's constantly putting their names in the same sentence. Her eagerness in making them meet was a little over the top, and at some point the thought of Gwen wanting to act as a match maker really came into her mind.

"I'm not playing the match maker, I'm just admitting the truth"

"As you say. Do you think you can manage? Because if you do, I'll go and take a shower before the others come"

"Then what are you doing here? Go!"

"Are you sure you want to create a disaster?" asked Sybil with a smile, referring to the one time Gwen had tidied up the house alone, and that slowly that when the first people arrived she was still in the middle of cleaning.

"It was once! Once in five years, and there really is no need to bring up the story every single time we have guests!"

"But it was fun. I still remember the faces as they saw the mess you had made"

"Sybil just go and take that damn shower. You can find someone else to make fun of" hissed Gwen, who was trying to keep a blank face and keeping herself back from laughing.

Sybil still hadn't finished to get ready, when she heard the first guests ringing at the doorbell. But since it was Gwen's party, she decided not to hurry up and keep taking her time. No one would have missed her for the first minutes, after all it was as if she was just another guest on the list with the difference that she lived in the same place as Gwen.

She looked at her wardrobe, deciding what to wear and, after having sorted out sever outfits she decided herself for a sleeveless summer dress, white, with pink flowers on it. She then toweled her hair dry, uncaring if it was still wet, combed it and looked at her reflection in the mirror before reaching her friends in the living room.

Apart from Tom Branson, who still hadn't arrived, she knew everyone. There was Anna, whom Gwen had met at university, Daisy, who had been their friend since the days back at Downton, William and Thomas. To tell the truth Thomas was more Sybil's friend than Gwen's, and at first Gwen couldn't really understand how her friend could like a person with such a dislikable personality but then, after a while, Thomas snarky attitude diminished and it was revealed that it was just a mere act, he put on to protect himself from what people might have thought of him.

"Hello everyone!" she greeted, as she entered the living room making her way towards her friends.

"Sybil! How are you?" screamed Daisy, running to hug her friend.

"I'm quite happy to have finished yet another academic year, and to have the summer all for myself."

"Free at last" commented Thomas.

"Indeed"

And so a conversation about plans for the summer and passed exams started.

Tom Branson was walking as quickly as possible towards Gwen's apartment. He knew, that whatever he would have done, he would have been late anyway. Yet, he quickened his pace to try to arrive earlier in his lateness. He was happy to see Gwen again, it had been months since the last time and he was eager to see her in person and congratulate her for her results in her art study.

Tom and Gwen had met one summer, when both their families had been on holiday in a small place on the Irish coast. They probably wouldn't have become friends were it not for the fact that there were really no children in the small village were both the Branson and the Dawsons lodged. So after the first day of annoying hours spent wandering alone, the two of them eventually spoke to each other and became friends. Through the years they had kept in touch, even if the occasions to meet in person had been few before he found himself working for 'The Daily report', in the same city she was studying.

He rang the doorbell, announced himself and walked to the third floor, ringing yet again at the doorbell. It was Gwen who opened the door and let him in, welcoming him with her usual enthusiasm.

"Tom! You managed to come"

"Of course I did. How are you?"

"I'm excited and I'm glad my academic studies are over. Now come, you have to meet a person" said Gwen taking his hand and dragging him towards the living room.

He wandered about what she was up to, all this eagerness and anticipation. He knew that Gwen wanted him to meet one of her friends, it wasn't the first time she had mentioned it, but he couldn't understand the whole fuss about it. Why did Gwen act like this? Why couldn't she do the same thing without outbursts of excitement? Who was her friend and why had he to meet her and...

He saw her, the girl sitting on an old chair, her body slightly reclined backwards that caught his attention: she was beautiful, that was undeniable, raven black hair combed back that did fall on her shoulders in soft waves, pale skin and blue ice eyes.

He was intrigued because, despite her sitting there without giving away any reaction whatsoever, she didn't look either annoyed or above the entire situation. She seemed concentrated in what the people around her were saying, really interested and not a fake attention.

"Tom, this is Sybil. Sybil, Tom Branson"

"The training journalist, I see"

"Actually, it's a real and proper journalist now."

"Tom Branson, a real and proper journalist it is then. I'm a doctor to be, but I'm sure Gwen told you that already"

"She did"

"Of course I did. Now Tom, you have to meet the others" added Gwen as she caught everyone's attention.

As the presentations were made Sybil didn't look away from her new acquaintance.

_He is rather good-looking, Gwen was right. _

but it wasn't just that, despite what she told Gwen, she wanted to learn a lot more about him than she currently did. And of course, if what Gwen told her was true, she wanted to hear in person Tom's political opinions. He was a liberal, which she approved entirely being herself a fervid supporter of that same political party, and as journalist he must have had pretty interesting ideas about the upcoming elections. there was also one other question, that might have been a little too bold but she wanted to ask. He was Irish, his strong accent gave it away almost immediately, how come that he had studied in England and not back in Ireland? Of course his reasons would have been more than valid, and it was his choice, but she thought it interesting.

She couldn't resist any longer, the current conversation was miles away from politics ans she was eager to hear his opinion.

"You should write about people who aren't interested in politics" she said, uncaring about the lack of connections of her statement with what the current argument was.

"I'm sorry?"

"Those people who say that they are not interested, because one is worse than the other"

"So you are political?"

"Don't make her start, or you will never hear the end of it" warned him Anna.

If there was one subject on which Sybil would have never shut up, it was politics. Politics and equal rights. She didn't care if people could be annoyed by her rants, she just wanted them to care about the world around them. It happened that people found her annoying, but - what a surprise - the people who told her, were the same people who didn't care about the world they lived in. And her father, but only because he didn't agree with her political ideas.

Tom didn't care, he was probably the same.

"Let us suppose I do. Would you write about it?" replied Sybil.

"Perhaps."

"People who don't care are annoying because..."

"Because one has to recognize that - despite a lack of faith - there's always one party that is better than the other, and that can be trusted to make things better" finished Tom "Vote shouldn't be something that people should give for granted, because it wasn't always there, and still isn't always there. We have a chance to express our opinion? We have to take it. One doesn't have to be political to understand it, one doesn't have to be really interested in politics to make a simple decision"

_I'm not interested in what happens around me_ one of his friends once told him. Now that was a lie

"Saying that one is not interested is a lie. Saying one doesn't care about what happens in the world does seem a lie too. How is it possible that one doesn't care? Think about social injustice, think about unnecessary violence. How can you not form an opinion in your mind?"

"Little as it is one has to take a decision right? Suppose you read an article about corrupted politicians, about a buying and selling of votes... No wait, let us think about power abuse: you open the newspaper, or any website or social media, and you read about a person, or a group of people, who acted in a certain way because they have a position in society. You read it and it seems impossible that neither _it's wrong _or _it's right _pops into your mind"

"One could always not hear about it" added Thomas, it was unlikely to happen - he knew it - but if for some strange set of events it did happen, what then?

"But we live in the twenty-first century, someone will hear it and pass it on. We are surrounded by information, everywhere, it seems unlikely not to hear about it" replied Sybil.

"But one has to consider that often people are blind to the world around them, and to inevitable changes"

"What do you mean?" asked Daisy.

"There are some who are disinterested about what happens outside their circle of life and society. Those who have always made one thing in the same way and have no intention about changing it" explained Tom,

At his words the first thought that came to Sybil's mind was _people like papa. _ How long had it taken the Earl of Grantham to accept Matthew and Mary's new plan of managing Downton, with the excuse that it had always been done that way and it had always worked?

She didn't say anything out loud, first of all she was not her father - and the numbers of quarrels they had regarding politics and way to do things were a confirmation of it - and second she didn't want to be judged by Tom Branson. He disapproved of people like her father, or it sounded like that, and she didn't want him to think her nothing more than her title. A part of her agreed with him, she had lied in that reality but then again not anyone was like that surely. She wasn't and she knew others.

"So you don't approve of the aristocracy" stated Sybil.

"No. I don't care about it more likely, I don't believe in types I believe in people : conservatives are in every circles of society, not only in the higher classes"

The discussion continued, and the more it went on the more everyone else except Tom and Sybil exited the conversation. They felt like there was nothing more to add, but apart from that they had create a sort of bubble, a discussion in which it seemed irrelevant what everyone else had to say. It seemed wrong to interrupt them in first place, so they just let them be.

"Gwen, those two are completely lost. If we were to leave now, they wouldn't even notice" whispered Anna.

"I told her she would get along with him, her answer was _as you say_"

"They don't only get along, those two are made for each other"

"Let us bet!" said Daisy

"On Sybil's love life?"

"Why not? I bet that they will go out on a date. If he survives the shock of discovering that she is an earl's daughter"

"Poor Tom, he hasn't got a clue! But then again, I warned him" admitted Gwen.

"About her?"

"No about him having some prejudices. I want to see his face when he finds out that Sybil is the daughter of Lord Grantham!"

"But do tell me, how is it that you've become a journalist in England? Wouldn't you rather work back in Ireland?"

"I'm not staying for forever but I found a job here after I graduated, and wasn't really sure about finding something else. So I stayed"

"But you want to get back"

"Aye, I prefer Ireland and I miss it. So that's the plan. But what about your future?"

"You should ask me again, one of these days. At lunch or dinner , I might give you an answer then" she blurted out, without thinking about it twice. When she realized what she had done, she covered her mouth with her hands and blushed beet red.

Oh god, did she really just do that? Had she really said that? It was one of the cheesiest and sleazy things she had ever said. She could have died for embarrassment. And she was sure that all the intelligent things she had said until that moment would have been overshadowed now.

_Congratulations Sybil! You could win an award for this._

Tom couldn't believe at what Sybil had just said, for a moment he thought that he might have imagined it.

"Are... Are you asking me out?"

"Yes... Kind of... If you want to, we can go as friends" she tried to explain. Suddenly her whole idea seemed stupid and a hazard. God! He could already be in a relationship. No, wait, Gwen would have told her from the beginning. What did she drag herself into? What had possessed her to talk like that. Still, it was too late now.

"I would be pleased" he admitted.

He wanted to see Sybil again? Yes, without a doubt. He had never enjoyed a conversation this much, he could have gone on for hours to talk and listen to her. The afternoon had not been long enough: there were still so many things to say, and thinks to ask.

What was happening to him?

"That would be beautiful. We can decide the details later!"

_Just calm down! And try not to sound too excited _but she couldn't, that was the point of the whole thing. For some strange reason she couldn't reduce the happiness she felt at the idea that soon she would have seen Tom Branson again. She hoped that her eagerness wasn't that obvious, not only because of what Tom might have thought but also her friends. And Gwen, oh dear, if Gwen would have found out, Sybil would have never heard the end of it.

"Oi! You two, dinner is ready!" said Gwen.

After dinner, it was Sybil and not Gwen to accompany Tom to the door.

"You have to thank Gwen again for my part" said Tom with a smile on his face.

"I will, so it's settled then: Wednesday at half past seven, at Vegani's?"

"Yes. Well... It's been a pleasure to meet you Sybil"

Sybil looked at Tom and for a moment she thought about not telling him the truth about herself. She didn't care about her title, nor about her position in society, and she could have brought it up next week, but she just couldn't resist. She wanted to see Tom's face at the news that she was part of the aristocracy, and she wanted to see it in that moment.

"It's Lady Sybil actually. As in I'm Sybil Crawley, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Grantham" she admitted.

The words hit him like a bucket of cold water. Sybil was the daughter of an Earl, and he had talked badly of the highest classes. He had never felt more embarrassed in his entire life.

"I'm sorry.. I didn't meant to" he mumbled - his mind working hard to try to find a good excuse - while Sybil was laughing her heart out.


End file.
